Almost 18 years ago, Lisa White was struggling with polycystic kidney disease.
The nausea was crippling. White, a Â鶹´«Ã½ resident, recalls being late to work several times because she was so sick she couldn’t drive. Her doctor told her to prepare for dialysis, White said.
She was holding out hope for a kidney donor. Several friends filled out a donor packet to see if they were a match. It was Chris Jernigan who caught White’s doctor’s eye.

Lisa White, left, and Chris Jernigan talk beside a window in Jernigan’s office in December.
When White was at an appointment at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, the doctor asked Jernigan if he could come to the hospital for some tests.
Several tests later, they had a match.
Jernigan, White’s supervisor at Southmountain Children and Family Services, was such a close match for White they could’ve been siblings, the doctors told them. Jernigan is now a Â鶹´«Ã½ City Council member.
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Donating a kidney is a laparoscopic procedure, typically leaving the donor in the hospital for a couple of days and the recipient a couple of days longer.
Jernigan, though, had a rare experience — his hemoglobin was so low it made it difficult for doctors to see his blood vessels. A blood vessel between his kidney and spleen was severed, leading to internal bleeding and an extended stay in the hospital.
In 17 years since, that’s the only complication he’s had.
“I’ve had absolutely no effect of reducing by one kidney,†Jernigan said. “I don’t have any feeling at all. No side effects. I didn’t lose energy. I didn’t lose anything. I have no idea. I’m back to working out and running and doing everything I want to do.â€
White takes medication daily to make sure her body doesn’t reject the kidney. Otherwise, she has been healthy since the transplant.
“It’s been a journey well worth taking,†White said. “I got to see my boys grow up and see what they’ve made of themselves now. See my grandchildren grow up, they’re as tall as I am now, all four of them. It amazes me.â€

Lisa White, left, and Chris Jernigan pose for a photo in Jernigan's office. White worked for Jernigan when he donated a kidney to her more than 17 years ago.Â
Jernigan said the decision to donate was simple.
“You see somebody who’s in need and you know that you can do this and their life will change and be such a vast improvement, and your life really won’t change much,†Jernigan said. “Then why not?â€